USA's Shiffrin ready to ski into the spotlight

The teenager looks up to skiers such as Lindsey Vonn%2C Bode Miller and Picabo Street

One hundred days before the Sochi Olympics begin, Mikaela Shiffrin's days of American anonymity are likely coming to an end.

In Austria, fans follow Shiffrin through grocery store aisles. As she crosses city streets, there are plenty of double-takes. In Austria, a world champion Alpine skier is as recognizable as a Super Bowl champ in the USA. Still, it's hard to get used to.

"Hey, it's just skiing, guys," Shiffrin says about the European attention.

Back home, there is no such fanfare. Last season, after the 18-year-old from Vail, Colo., won the slalom world championship in Austria, she was stopped going through customs at a New York airport.

"Hey, you're Mikaela Shiffrin, right?" a fellow traveler asked.

"Yeah, but we're in the U.S. How do you know me?" she said.

"I'm from Austria," he said.

Of course.

If Shiffrin wins Olympic gold in slalom and contends for a giant slalom medal in Sochi, she likely will return home on a first-name basis with America. (See Picabo, Bode, Lindsey.) The opening ceremony in Sochi will be held 100 days from today.

"I'm excited to watch what she's capable of, because I think, quite frankly, she's as good or better than Lindsey (Vonn)," two-time Olympic medalist Picabo Street says. "I think she has the ability to win just as much if not more.

"She's right on the brink of just blowing up, and she has this mentality of leave me alone a little bit, I want to be like a Clydesdale in the parade and put my blinders on," Street says. "The big pivot that I think needs to happen for her is wrapping her brain around her success, around the attention she's getting and the role model and celebrity that comes along with it."

In Shiffrin's second full season on the World Cup tour last year, she became the youngest World Cup slalom champ in 39 years, the first U.S. slalom World Cup champion since 1983 and the first non-European to win four World Cup slalom races in a season — all while balancing a full load of homework. In June, Shiffrin graduated from Burke Mountain Academy, a boarding school in northern Vermont with a ski-racing focus.

"She's a phenom," four-time Olympian Bode Miller said. "They don't come around very often, and when they do, it's a pleasure to watch. She doesn't get flustered. She performs consistently. Those are the people you want to bet on."

Just like in previous seasons, Shiffrin will travel the circuit with her mother, Eileen. She finishes tough days of training like any other teenager might — on the couch with her mom watching Glee or Friends.

"I think the biggest priority is to try to give her some semblance of normalcy," Eileen Shiffrin says. "Make her feel like she has a little bit of home, family with her. There's so many things that come at her all at the same time on the road, I try to help her sort through things. I probably run defense for her a little bit."

Mother and daughter also are learning to play the guitar together, and Shiffrin is working on becoming fluent in German. She decided to learn the language because U.S. teammate Vonn speaks it and "everybody really respects that."

In the World Cup opener in Soelden, Austria, last weekend, Shiffrin finished sixth in the giant slalom, matching her career best. "I'm excited to see where I can take my GS before I get to the Olympics," she says. Shiffrin will continue to focus on slalom and GS and add the speed events of downhill and super-G after the Olympics.

After a three-week break, the circuit resumes in Levi, Finland, with a slalom — Shiffrin's specialty. In addition to prize money and flowers, the winner of the race also receives a reindeer.

It's an "authentic and original Lapland reindeer," according to race organizers, "after which they can follow their reindeer's movements and adventures in Lapland (a northern region in Finland) during winter via pictures and social media."

Even though Shiffrin has proved she's the best slalom skier in the world, the pinch-me moments keep coming. In Soelden, she posed for a picture with Miller, about whom she once wrote a book report.

The star-struck star admires much about Vonn: her professionalism, work ethic, toughness and femininity. She appreciates Vonn's guidance but doesn't want to pester her for advice, given Vonn's limited free time. Last season, Vonn sent Shiffrin e-mails of congratulations.

"That was all I needed to hear," Shiffrin says about the support from the most successful female ski racer in American history.

"It's so flattering, but I'm in that position where I would be saying that to Bode, Lindsey or Picabo," Shiffrin says. "I totally know how these kids feel, and sometimes it seems silly. … 'Me? Really? You don't want to pick someone better?' But it's really cool to have that influence on them."